The Passion Of Marie-madeleine

19th century Napoleon III frame in gilded wood and stucco with foliage and laurel leaf motifs. Anti-reflective Clarity glass. Our drawing presents a stripped woman, head abandoned and long loose hair, embracing the Cross, arms wide open, the right of which tenderly envelops a skull. These attributes are similar to those of the iconography of the Penitent Magdalen. However, the head on the back, the presence of funereal elements and, finally, the comparison with other drawings, allow us to identify rather the passion of Mary Magdalene. The drawing shows a sober background; the decor consists of a cave from which we see a rock with a sheet that could be likened to a tomb on which is placed a vase, which could be a funerary urn. The characteristics of these elements, of the cross, as well as the tone of the scene, are close to the Italian neoclassical style. The drawing could therefore be dated to the second half of the 18th century. However, the comparison with drawings with a similar subject would rather allow us to bring it closer stylistically to older works, produced between the end of the 17th century and the first decades of the following century. The rounded character of the leaves of the trees is close to the style of the Venetian school. In the same way, the rounded forms of the drapery and the softness of the female body refer rather to this regional school or those linked to the lagoon city, such as that of Bologna. Indeed, the shapes of the belly and the features that define the knee are found in examples of these regions. The analysis of the use of gray wash also links it to northern Italy, due to a hand that knew how to nuance light and shadow with fluidity, giving the sheet a character that is both tragic and soft, dramatic and sensual. “Because she loved it very much. The word much says this lost body which throws itself into the arms of the one who will perhaps love it. He tells of this woman who gives herself up to whoever wants (…) and whose failure resembles that of the Word made flesh: because he too, the Son of God, gave himself up body and soul, gave himself up passionately to men , without ever meeting arms that were as open as his own. On the contrary: we let off steam on him, we undressed him, we took his share, we abandoned him as we leave the deceived woman. It's called "the Passion."